People

Pippa was admitted to practice in 1981, became a partner of Goddard Elliott in 1989 and is now the Director/Principal of the firm.

Pippa is a keen advocate for Local Government having gained experience as a Ministerial Adviser and Personal Secretary to the Minister for Planning and Environment before joining the firm.

Pippa brings a wealth of legal knowledge and practical experience to a wide range of practice areas, including:

• Planning and Environment Law, with diverse experience at VCAT, Magistrates’ Court and Supreme Court in prosecuting and defending planning matters, Building Act, Public Health & Safety Act, Food Act and Local Laws matters, Planning Permit applications, cancellations and appeals, Panel Hearings, zoning and overlay matters, existing use rights, enforcement proceedings, and Section 173 Agreements
• Commercial litigation: breach of contract, torts, specific performance, franchise disputes, misleading and deceptive conduct claims, misuse of confidential information, director’s disputes, shareholders’ oppression claims, liquidator and trustee in bankruptcy disputes
• Estate Administration of complex and high-net Estates involving informal Wills, missing and copy Wills, Letters of Administration, intestacies, interim and limited Probate applications, applications by creditors or beneficiaries, superannuation claims, international assets, tax issues, purchase of assets by Executors, removal of Executors, Executor’s commissions, management of trusts for infant beneficiaries and accounts of administration
• Appointments by the Supreme Court, VCAT and State Trustees to act as a professional Executor or Administrator
• Estate litigation, including testamentary capacity, undue influence, testator’s family maintenance claims, constructive trusts, construction of Wills and disputed superannuation matters
• Complex property claims such as adverse possession, Caveat disputes, removal of restrictive covenants, easements, subdivisions and consolidations
• Commercial transactions, including purchase and sale of businesses, retail and commercial leasing, guarantee advice, company structuring, drafting and advising on terms and conditions, company constitutions, shareholder, partnership, manufacturing, distribution and joint venture agreements, and security and collateral agreements
• Disputes with and rulings from the Australian Tax Office and the State Revenue Office
• Estate Planning, Wills and Enduring Powers of Attorney and Guardianship & Administration matters
• Trusts matters, including preparation and advice on Unit Trusts, Family Trusts and Testamentary Trusts.

Pippa works across all of the above areas in the Federal Court, Supreme and County Courts, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, mediations and arbitrations. Pippa’s clientele includes private companies both big and small, private individuals and families, local Councils and developers.

Pippa is recognised as an assertive but practical advocate for her clients, with a no-nonsense, commercial attitude to resolving problems.

Pippa is a past President of the Eastern Suburbs Law Association serving multiple terms, was an executive board member at Methodist Ladies’ College in Kew for nearly 20 years, has served on the boards of the Law Institute of Victoria and Calisthenics Victoria and has provided pro bono advice to a number of charitable organisations.

Raised in the Mount Waverley area, Adriane was admitted to practice in 2009. Having completed her Articles of Clerkship with the firm, Adriane’s main areas of legal practice are:

• Simple and complex Wills and Estate Planning, including superannuation, unequal distributions, life interests and blended families
• Financial, Personal and Medical Powers of Attorneys
• Statutory Will applications
• Estate Administration, including Grants of Probate, Letters of Administration, informal Wills, intestacies
• Trusts, including Family Trusts, Testamentary Trusts and Special Disability Trusts
• Retirement Village advice, including entering into and exiting retirement villages
• Guardianship & Administration matters
• Commercial and residential property transactions, subdivisions, complex stamp duty assessments and applications for removal or variation of restrictive covenants
• Criminal Law
• Local government and planning law, including criminal prosecutions

 Having formerly worked as a librarian, Adriane has excellent organisation skills. Adriane works hard to ensure her clients feel they have been listened to, and that they are satisfied with their experience at GE Law Services.

 Adriane has served on a number of not-for-profit boards.

Admitted in 2015, Haydie graduated from Monash University with a Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Science.

Haydie has strong analytical skills, developed from her science background and has instructed in all jurisdictions from VCAT to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

 Haydie has a broad experience in:

• Commercial matters (such as debt disputes, breach of contract);
• Drawing Contracts and Terms & Conditions;
• Building and Construction (including advice on building contracts);
• Property and Tenancy matters (including tenancy disputes and drawing retail and commercial leases);
• Employment Law (such as advice on employment agreements and awards, unfair dismissal and underpayment);
• Criminal Law
• Planning Law